The Mammoth Speaker
by JonathanDandros
Summary: The first year after Ayla and Jondalar leave on their journey has a lot of changes for Lion camp. One is in the mystery of the young man who winds up on their door step. Just who is this young man?


The boy traveled along the grassy plain silently. His gaze traveled around never staying in one place longer than a few seconds. He was being hunted. He could feel it. He could hear the beast hunt him. It was taunting him. He ignored it for now and crept forward out of the grass into a wooded area. He quickly climbed up a tree and moved through the branches. A lone lion crept out of the grass beneath him. It was small for a lion the boy thought easy prey from up here. The hunter was now the hunted. The boy moved from tree to tree following the beast grinning to himself.

Unbeknownst to him, he, himself was being watched but not by an animal. He would have known if an animal was hunting him. A young woman watched him from her hiding spot in the brush several meters away. She was out setting snares hoping to catch some ermines when she heard the grass rustle yet she couldn't see what caused it so she had hidden. She saw the boy climb the tree and watched as a cave lion followed him a few moments later. She stifled a gasp as the lion moved forward slowly hunting the boy while the boy himself moved in the trees hunting it. She watched as the boy slowly and silently drew out a bone knife and readied himself to drop down upon the lion. Moments passed when the lion looked around hesitantly. She gasped out loud as the boy dropped, a roar breaking through his lips. The lion was stunned and couldn't struggle as the boy dropped onto its back and slit its throat. The boys ferocity had scared her and she ran back to her home. She had to tell Talut about the boy. He was dangerous that was for sure. She left and didn't turn back to look if she did she would have noticed the boys strange reaction.

Running back to Lion camp she started urgently calling out. "Talut! Talut!" The man in question came rushing out of the dwelling looking for her.

"What is wrong Latie? You seem upset. What happened?" Talut asked.

"I was setting some snares in the woods nearby when I saw a boy a little older than me. He was being hunted by a cave lion. But he climbed a tree and somehow killed the lion. But the scariest part is when he jumped from the trees he roared like a lion. I rushed back as soon as he was busy skinning the lion."

"This is troubling news. We must be cautious though we do not want to seem hostile to this person."

Latie nodded at Talut and followed him inside the dwelling. Back in the woods the boy had finished skinning the lion and started cleaning the meat off. The pelt would make a good cover for when he was walking through an open plain. Though he was disturbed by the strange creature that walked as he did. It didn't seem dangerous but it ran off quickly. The boy sighed and quickly started to eat the lion's meat. During the night animals came and took pieces of the meat yet didn't harm the boy. He sat awake and watched. Nothing harmed him and survived, he was the Speaker. The two legged hunter who spoke the language of all beasts. The boy thought long and hard before falling asleep. He would track the creature and observe its den before making a decision about what to do with it.

The next morning the boy rose and removed the teeth and claws of his kill before leaving it to the rest of the animals in the forest. He moved slowly carefully not wanting to be discovered. As the day grew brighter he started to hear noises. Like a pack conversing. He walked to the edge of the forest and gazed out at a small mound. He watched as people moved in and out of the den. He saw the creatures young and old wander out. And he watched a large man with red hair stand near the middle of the clearing a large fang in his hand. The boy smiled and climbed down before moving off back to where his fang still laid. It was time to collect his skin and to move on.

Several weeks later winter was about to kick in when the boy smelled fire nearby. Fire was dangerous he wanted to run but he could hear the same sounds from weeks earlier. It was the things he had observed. He moved closer despite his fear and watched as they chased Mammoths using the fire. He smiled and watched. Suddenly a smaller one was rushed by one of the mammoths and dropped its flames which licked eagerly at the dry grass quickly spreading. In the growing confusion the mammoths escaped and the smoke grew thick and heavy. The creatures were coughing and running away from the fire grouping together upwind of the flames. They made their strange noises for a while and started moving towards the flames yelling the same thing. It sounded like "Latie". The boy thought that it must be a name and one of their pack had gotten lost in the smoke. Despite his fear the boy moved into the smoke and flames and searched for the missing creature. After a while he started to cough he could barely see and couldn't believe that anything could have survived this long when he found it. The thing that watched him kill the lion back then. Carefully picking it up he carried it back to his den to find out more if possible.

Talut was devastated. The hunt was a disaster and now Latie was missing. He searched and searched the burning grasses looking desperately for the daughter of his hearth. He searched were she was before, she dropped her torch and found foot prints. He could barely see them heading to where Latie had fallen but they were slightly deeper leaving there. Whoever had found her had hopefully saved her. He had to return to the Lodge for now. He needed to tell Nezzie.

The boy carried the thing back to his den, a small cave in a small clearing just within the forest. He set it down and started looking for any injuries but the creature had a strange hide wrapped around it. He was confused. Pulling the hides off he continued his check. Starting at the head he moved lower. He paused for a moment between her legs as an old, lost memory resurfaced. A female was telling him the difference between him and his sister. This creature was like him. It was a female. She was the same as him. The boy felt a strange tightening between his legs but ignored it covering the girl with her hides before going in search of some food.

While he was away Latie awoke. At first she was scared until her eyes adjusted and she realized that something or someone had pulled her away from the mammoths. She stood and felt her clothing fall to the ground. Someone had undressed her. Quickly pulling her clothes back on she failed to notice the boy returning dragging a deer behind him. As he entered the cave the light darkened for a moment causing Latie to turn around. She gasped when she saw him again. He was still as naked as the day she first saw him and she thought that she should have been embarrassed about that but there was something about this boy that made her feel at ease near him. The terror she had felt at seeing him slay the lion had gone. Now it was left with something else. Something strange…Latie somehow knew that her life was about to change…for better or worse she didn't know.


End file.
